Based in Boulder, Boomtown will focus on discovering and nurturing Internet, mobile and software startups. The accelerator will operate two, 12-week sessions per year at its office in downtown Boulder, home to the nationally recognized TechStars accelerator program.

Startups that are accepted into Boomtown will receive $20,000 in seed money, more than $40,000 in services and support and $700,000 in perks.

The program will focus on companies that target media, design, marketing and ad tech sectors. Atlanta-based investment firm Farmore Capital Group is the lead investor. Read more…

Denver Broncos fans can add a touch of orange and blue to the New York City skyline each night by sending tweets in support of the team.

Verizon Wireless is sponsoring “the first social media powered light show on the Empire State Building,” collecting answers to questions about Super Bowl XLVIII all week long to determine the color of the lights atop the tower.

“Tweet your answer to the daily question with #WhosGonnaWin and you can light up the night with your team’s colors,” the company said in a statement.

The first two questions this week asked about the respective teams’ defenses and running attack, both strengths of the Seattle Seahawks. Not surprisingly, the Seahawks received the most votes, and thus the iconic building was covered with blue and green the first two nights. Read more…

Level 3 Communications will provide television broadcast video services for Super Bowl XLVIII, marking the 25th consecutive year the Broomfield-based Internet network operator or a predecessor company has handled that job for the NFL’s main event.

For Sunday’s game, Level 3 assisted in creating a separate broadcast location in Times Square for Fox Sports. The remote location covers 4,500-square-feet of temporary office space and uses more than 200,000 feet of cable.

MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J., where the Super Bowl will be played, is connected directly to Level 3’s fiber-optic network to enable the TV broadcast.

Level 3 has 10 employees on the ground to assist with the feed, including pre- and post-game footage. Level 3 employees from Broomfield and Tulsa, Okla., will also be part of the behind-the-scenes work to deliver the broadcast to an audience of more than 100 million Americans. Read more…

Colorado PUC Director Doug Dean has concerns about a new ride-sharing bill. In the photo, an Uber driver holds an iPhone that displays the Uber app. (Photo By AAron Ontiveroz/The Denver Post)

A bipartisan group of lawmakers trumpeted Tuesday a ride-sharing measure they say would create jobs and offer consumers a transportation alternative.

Colorado regulators, however, say the bill comes up short, leaving consumers at risk and treating taxi and ride-sharing drivers unequally.

Senate Bill 125 would permit ride-sharing services from the likes of Lyft and uberX and place them under limited state regulation.

“We have some concerns with this draft,” said Doug Dean, director of the Colorado Public Utilities Commission, which regulates the state’s taxi industry. “There are some gaps here, particularly on insurance and on background checks.”

Lyft and uberX launched in Denver last year and have drawn concerns from PUC staff because the services aren’t regulated.

Lyft, Uber and several lawmakers will announce Tuesday a bill that would place the ride-sharing services under light regulation of the Colorado Public Utilities Commission.

The PUC said in December that its staff is investigating whether Lyft and ride-sharing competitor, uberX, are complying with state transportation rules. Staff investigators said in documents obtained by the Post that uberX and Lyft are offering common carrier services, like taxis, but without the necessary regulatory approvals.

In a response to the PUC, Lyft said it is not a motor carrier but rather a so-called transportation network company, an online peer-to-peer transportation platform that doesn’t fall under existing state regulations.

The companies have faced increased scrutiny in recent weeks after a couple of high-profile accidents in their home state of California, including one that involved an Uber driver and killed a 6-year-old. Read more…

Score another win for Dish Network in the battle with broadcasters over the controversial ad-skipping technology that’s included in the satellite-TV company’s Hopper set-top box.

The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals on Friday denied Fox Broadcasting’s request for a rehearing on its request for a preliminary injunction to bar Dish from offering the AutoHop commercial-skipping technology and PrimeTime Anytime, which allows subscribers to automatically record prime time shows.

Colorado residents should have some clarity Friday on whether the state’s so-called Amazon tax law has staying power, or if it will be thrown out.

A state district judge is scheduled to review a request by a trade organization to temporarily shelve the law while he determines whether it’s constitutional. A federal judge tossed out the law in 2012, but it was recently reinstated after an appeals court panel ruled that such tax issues should be dealt with at the state level.

Even if Denver District Court Judge Morris Hoffman rules in Colorado’s favor, it’s unclear when the state would actually enforce a law that was passed in 2010. Read more…

Beatty, who founded crowdsource site Associated Content and sold it for nearly $100 million to Yahoo, joined AOL late last year as head of strategic partnerships. AOL is led by Tim Armstrong, a roommate of Beatty’s at Connecticut College and the first investor in Associated Content.

Beatty now assumes a newly created product executive position and will be in charge of the 40-person Gravity team.

Specifically, the businesses allegedly misrepresented that they abide by an international privacy framework known as the U.S.-EU Safe Harbor, which allows U.S. companies to transfer consumer data from the European Union to the U.S.

The Federal Trade Commission announced Tuesday proposed settlements with the 12 businesses, which include two other pro football teams, the Tennessee Titans and the Atlanta Falcons.

“Under the proposed settlement agreements, which are subject to public comment, the companies are prohibited from misrepresenting the extent to which they participate in any privacy or data security program sponsored by the government or any other self-regulatory or standard-setting organization,” the FTC said in a statement.

Level 3, which operates one of the world’s largest Internet networks, said the settlement covers a “technical issue” and “at no point in time was the privacy of personal information compromised as a result of this issue.”

A Broncos spokesman issued the following statement: “This issue was caused by a clerical error related to the renewal of our privacy certification. It has since been resolved, and our website is in full compliance with all privacy regulations.”

Tamara Chuang covers personal technology and local tech news for The Denver Post. She previously spent 10 years doing the same thing for The Orange County Register before taking a hiatus to move here and become a SAHM to a precocious toddler.

Laura Keeney is a business reporter with The Denver Post, covering aerospace, aviation and biotech. Over the last two decades, she's covered everything from agribusiness to punk rock. Keeney holds an AACSB-accredited MBA from St. John Fisher College in Rochester, NY.